I’m mostly your fault, Michael Moorcock

I started reading your work thirty years ago. I was nine, and the book was Stormbringer.

At the time it was a little like having the top of my head ripped off and magnificent multicoloured ideas poured in.

I read everything I could find you’d written as it was published—several feet of books rapidly appearing on my bookshelves over the next couple of years. I even read everything I could find by people you mentioned, discovering authors like Mervyn Peake in the process.

I took it for granted that a good author could and should be able to write anything and write anything well in any genre or way, and bend and break genres and rules at will—after all, you did it.

Looking back now, the things that stick are the strange ones that don’t fit, from the Sex Pistols’ novel-newspaper (Irene Handl as Mrs Cornelius?) to the mysterious newspaper-wrapped packages of The Chinese Agent…

You’ve been an inspiration. Or to put it another way, I’m probably mostly your fault.

This is probably the best fan letter ever! :) And I've never read Moorcock, but you've now made me want to. See how that works?

Also, I'm only partly your fault, Neil. You share blame with George Orwell, Jhumpa Lahiri, Paul Cornell, Joss Whedon, and Jane Espenson. Not bad company to be in, though. You all should be very proud! :)

But what I've learned in my poor 20 years of reading, or so, is....
It is NOT hard to imagine what's possible in fiction, magic or - even - reallity. The trully challange is to dream about what can't be done with papper and pen.
Sure, you prove that what i'm saying is true.

The greatest fan letter ever for definite.Neil Gaiman, i am mostly your fault- along with Terry Pratchett.i haven't read Moorcock yet- but intend to. look out for the name Scarlett Blades in 10 years time...either as an author or a journalist, or both!

I agree with Neil, Moorcock took me from juveniles (the Hawkmoon series) to puberty with Jerry Cornelius and Hawkwind, and beyond.

I got into trouble for discussing "Behold the Man" in school (along with Heinlein's "Stranger In A Strange Land") and that I could get into trouble for ideas and stories shaped my attitude to authority ever since.

I always pull out the works of Mr. Moorcock whenever people talk of swords and sorcery. The entire champion eternal universe has always been a bit of a touchstone for me. It's so good to see one of my favorite "new" authors paying homage to one of my most revered ones. Kudos to you Mr. Gaiman.

Me too, although I didn't read Moorcock early, but found him through the mentions by Neil and Tad Williams. Which, given Neil's comments about Peake, seems entirely appropriate and pleasingly symmetrical.

I only have 2ft of Moorcock books on my shelves, but the collection's still growing.

(I thought I'd posted something like this last night, but it seemed to have evaporated. Trying again...)

Yes, it was originally written for a celebration of Mike Moorcock exactly a decade ago, when the numbers worked.

I sometimes forget to mention how big an influence on me Michael Moorcock was (and is) probably for the same reason that people at the top of the Empire State Building might not, if asked where they were, mention America. It's too big and too obvious.

Interesting! I was at WFC2009, and I was surprised by how few people mentioned Moorcock or Robert E Howard.

I, too, read lots and lots of Moorcock, much of it when I was in high school. Loved the Champion Eternal, especially Corum. Read the Mabinogion in the Penguin edition because of Corum.

That Mr Moorcock also wrote songs for Hawkwind was an added bonus. That he wrote (bad) songs for BOC was not. Even found a copy of "New World's Fair" on vinyl, and kept it after I sold ALL my other LPs.

As a young boy my parents and teachers could never get me interested in reading no matter what they tried. Then my cousin introduced me to my first Michael Moorcock novel and I was hooked. It opened up a whole new world to me and I am happy to say that over 35 years later I am still an avid reader.

I also began reading Moorcock at age 9, also with Stormbringer. Unlike Neil, it was then a few years before I realized, to my utter delight, that it was part of a greater whole. If this pattern holds, then it means that, adjusted for aging, I should publish my first book in 2032!

ps to Marc: If you are including "Blade Blade" in the Bad category (switching to best Chekov imitation), I shall have to stun you.